Skydiver killed in fall east of Chula Vista

Emergency device that would've opened chute was broken

An experienced skydiver died after a midair collision with another jumper at a skydiving center east of Chula Vista Sunday afternoon, the center’s owner said.

The man, a San Diego resident in his 20s, was likely knocked unconscious when he struck another skydiver and his parachute never opened in the sky above Skydive San Diego around 3:30 p.m.

The master parachutist was a veteran of more than 1,000 jumps and usually dived with a device that would automatically open his parachute in an emergency, but he sent the device out for maintenance last week, said Buzz Fink, president of Airborne America Inc., which operates the rural skydive center east of Lower Otay Lake.

“He was loved by the whole staff here and other experienced jumpers,” Fink said. “He loved life and will be missed.”

The skydiver worked as a master parachute rigger at Skydive San Diego on weekdays. On weekends he would train and assist other jumpers in aerial maneuvers. On Saturday, he and another master parachutist decided to work together on techniques so they went up in a plane with 20 other skydivers and the two men jumped together, Fink said.

It is believed the man was practicing a more advanced technique known as tracking, which is when a jumper moves out of the traditional, arched free-fall position and straightens his or her back and legs, with arms held alongside the body. The technique allows a diver to move horizontally through the air, and a jumper who is tracking can reach speeds of 120 mph.

The man’s head hit his fellow jumper in the leg and then he disappeared out of sight. The parachutist who was struck was not injured and he landed in the drop zone, but the skydiver who struck him did not.

Fink said the business on Otay Lakes Road was closed while they looked for the missing skydiver, who they initially thought may have landed nearby.

“Once we realized it might have been more serious, we called right away,” Fink said.

When he wasn’t found, the sheriff’s Search and Rescue team was called. Members found the man’s body about 4:45 p.m. in the foothills of Otay Mountain just south of the center, a sheriff’s official said. His name has not been released while his family, who Fink said live out of state, was informed of his death.

“He was a happy-go-lucky guy who was friends with everybody,” Fink said. “We’re all really shaken up about this.

Two skydivers at the center on Sunday evening declined to talk to reporters. Fink said the group of master parachutists is small and close-knit and they took the man’s death hard. The last time someone was killed at the center was about five years ago when a skydiver got tangled in his chute and hit his head on a rock when he landed. Fink said more than 100,000 skydives are done at the center each year.